CO2 sensing

New technology enables us to change our daily life at home to a more convenient, secure, safe, and energy saving environment with sensors.

As it is urgent to suppress global warming, the need for improved efficiency of air conditioning such as air conditioning and heating is increasing.
In air conditioning control of high-rise office buildings and highly air-conditioned dwellings, its cooling and heating efficiency changes greatly depending on how much external air is taken in. By measuring the CO2 concentration in the indoor environment as the air quality standard and optimizing the operation of the air conditioning ventilation system, we will realize energy saving of comfortable indoor environment and air conditioning.
AKM's IR sensor has an optical filter that selectively transmits only the infrared absorption spectrum band of CO 2. This makes it easy to configure a non-dispersive optical (NDIR) CO2 sensor. This product features high sensitivity, high speed response, small package, contributing to miniaturization and low power consumption of CO2 sensor.
CO2 sensor equipped with AKM's IR sensor contributes to high efficiency of air conditioning system and realization of comfort environment (*1). Meanwhile, in the future, it is planned that the car air conditioner will shift to a CO2 refrigerant with an extremely low greenhouse effect instead of Freon (*2), but it is also ideal for its refrigerant leak detection (*3) application.
The AKM's IR sensor can also be used for flame detectors by detecting infrared emanating from flame.

[Notes]
*1 CO2 concentration of fresh air is normally 400ppm. If this concentration exceeds 2000ppm, it will cause drowsiness, headache and sense of fatigue.
*2 Chlorofluorocarbon has several hundreds to hundred thousand times GWP (Global Warming Potential) than CO2 in addition to damaging of the ozone layer. In Europe, all refrigerants that exceeds 150 GWP are banned for automotive air conditioner after 2017. VDA, (Verband der Automobilindustrie), has decided to use CO2 refrigerant from 2017 onward.
*3 Compressor pressure that use CO2 refrigerator is 10 times higher than the ones using chlorofluorocarbon; it operates at 100 atmospheric pressure. The AK9710 is capable to detect refrigerants leaks in a car.

Infrared LED Element

NEW AK9700AELED Element Developed for Light Source of NDIR CO2 Sensor

The AK9700AE is an infrared light emitting element (IR-LED) with a peak emission wavelength in the infrared absorption band of CO2.Compared with the W filament bulb used in the conventional NDIR type CO2 sensor, it can control the light emission at high speed and can also reduce the current consumption of the CO2 sensor dramatically by combining with an AKM infrared light receiving element, the AK9710AE, which has quick response performance.In addition, it has a built-in light-receiving element for temperature correction, and high-precision sensing can be realized by monitoring the luminescence amount.Since the AK9700AE adopts a small surface mount type, it is effective for miniaturizing the sensor. Since LEDs has a much longer life than the bulbs, a highly reliable sensor can be accomplished. Moreover, an automotive version of the AK9700 is planned.

● High power infrared LED

● High-speed Driving

100 kHz or more High Speed Drive is available

● High Reliability

Achieve high vibration resistance with a plastic molded package
Small plastic package

LED Driver with Built-in AFEIC

The AK9721AE provides a signal processing solution for NDIR type gas sensor applications by combining AKM's infrared light emitting/receiving element and an external MCU. The light emitting element (IR - LED) driver is a programmable constant current circuit, and it is controlled optimally according to the optical path length of the gas sensor. The signal of the light receiving element (IR sensor) is amplified by a programmable gain amplifier and then AD converted in 24-bit resolution. Settings of each block are done by the external MCU via the I2C bus.An NDIR type CO2 sensor can be easily composed by using the AK9710AE and the AK9721AE released this time in addition to the AK9710AE that is already in the market.
An automotive version of the AK9721 is also planned.

IR Sensor with Optical Filter

NEW AK9710AEIR Sensor with Optical Filter: The AK9710 is suitable for NDIR CO2 sensing

CO2 absorbs infrared light of a specific wavelength. The AK9710 has an optical filter with a transmission band in the absorption band of CO2 in the IR sensor. This makes it easy to configure non-dispersive optical (NDIR: Non Dispersive Infrared) CO2 sensor by providing an external infrared light source.The CO2 sensor contributes to realization of a comfortable indoor environment and energy saving of air conditioning with high-rise office buildings and highly insulated, airtight houses. Also, by optimizing the operation of the air conditioning of the car as well as the housing, we reduce the load on the engine and the motor and contribute to improving fuel economy.
On the other hand, it can also be applied as a refrigerant leak detection sensor for automotive air conditioning, which is scheduled to replace CO2 refrigerant in the future.
For automotive use (AEC-Q101 compliant) of this product will be mass-produced in August 2017 as AK9710AD.

● High Sensitivity, High Speed Response

Conventionally, a thermopile is used in an NDIR gas sensor. The AK9710 has a 3X higher sensitivity and more than 1000 times faster responsiveness than thermopile solutions.

● Integrate Optical Filter that Passes Infrared Observing Band

There is measurable spectrum in the infrared band of CO2. The AK9710 has an optical filter that only passes the infrared portion of the band. With this optical filter, system designs can be simplified.

Ultrasmall and high sensitivity infrared sensor

IR1011Ultrasmall and high sensitivity infrared sensor

IR1011 is a quantum-type ultrasmall infrared sensor corresponding to surface mounting, which can operate at room temperature.
This sensor is a InSb photo diode besed on manufacturing technologies of AKM's Hall elements.
The sensor can detect infrared with no power supply, and has features of quantum-type infrared sensor such as high sensitivity, high speed response and DC output.